Brian Rides Bikes

May 2010 – Return of the QMDC Training Rides and a Marathon Training Setback…

Hello Friends!

Summer’s here, and while the month of May brings us a change of weather, a start to the Major League Baseball season (way to go Padres!) and the end of American Idol, what May means for me is the final preparations for the Rock n’ Roll Marathon on June 6th.  My training buds Mark and Pat have put me through the most rigorous of training regimens and we worked our way from the half marathon mileage of 13.1 miles all the way to 22 miles within six months and are primed and ready for the big 26.2 mile challenge ahead.  Except for one thing.  INJURY.  But we’ll get back to that in a sec.

As many of you know, much of the productivity that comes from endurance sports comes from not only being out there on your bike, pedaling away for eight hours straight, or running for four hours, but from careful preparation and cross training.  While many folks just focus their training towards one discipline, lets say running, their entire focus is to improve their leg strength and cardiovascular capacity to prepare themselves for a foot race.  Others who train for a cycling event, will spend time on trainers, in the gym working their legs and core, and do interval hill climbing or sprints to focus on their quads.

For me, I’m training for both.  With the marathon coming up around the corner and the return of the Challenged Athletes Foundation’s Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge, I have to spend equal amounts of time putting in mileage on foot and on my bike in order to keep my endurance and leg strength for both at as high a level as I can.  For preparation purposes, that means training 5-6 days per week, with time spent running, cycling, weight lifting and more running and cycling.

Which brings us to the big event in October, the 2010 QMDC – another wonderful trip from San Francisco to San Diego in October of this year.  We have a fantastic turnout of fundraisers and riders this year with a number of familiar friends and return veterans from last year, including many of my fellow XX1090 Scott & BR 2009 Radio Riders, and a great amount of new faces as well!  Adam Beck, last year’s 2009 Scott & BR Champ has joined the 2008 Champ Mike Henderson to train the brand new 2010 Scott & BR Riders for their upcoming challenge ahead.  Seeing this new batch of contestants brings me back to last year when I was in the radio contest, and all of the excitement, anxiety and fun that it brought to me.  However, I sure am glad I’m no longer on a hot seat and wondering if I’m gonna make the next cut.  It’ll be fun to see how this year’s drama unfolds.

This year also welcomes new ride leaders and Head Coach as well, as Pat Jak from Fitness Quest (well known for training the likes of Drew Brees and LaDainian Tomlinson) has taken the helm.  After last year’s Fitness Quest training day, Pat Jak gave us all excellent tips for endurance athletes on weight lifting techniques we can use to get stronger and prevent injury.  In fact, over the last year, I’ve taken his advice and added two days of weight training and believe that it’s certainly helped me get faster on both my feet and my bike.  At least I believe I’m faster, and that’s half the battle:)

One thing of note from the first training ride for the QMDC is that I somehow found myself in Group One, riding with the super fast studs (like my bud Don Parker pictured here) at a pace between 22-24 mph.  I’d like to note that this was not my intention to start out in Group One, as it was quite a jump from working with the 16-18 mph Group Three all last year.  But, it turns out that Radio Joe Weickgenant, top seven finisher in last year’s contest and roommate of mine down the coast last year, along with ultra fast Chance Whitaker are the Group One Ride leaders, and Joe kindly requested (by pulling me by my jersey), to ride in his group.  I’ll tell you what, I had a heck of a time.  There’s absolutely nothing like throwing down the pedals as fast and as hard as you can to hold onto someone’s wheel, race up hills faster than you have before, and having a big smile while doing it.  I certainly enjoyed riding with the group, and I hope that I can continue to ride with these speedsters for weeks to come.  Was I dropped a couple of times?  Absolutely, but Chance and Joe came back to reel me back in, and even when I wanted to slow down, they kindly encouraged me (via yelling and name calling) that the only way I’m going to improve is to push my limits.

Which brings me back full circle to my current dilemma.  With a week to go before the RnR Marathon, I headed down to the gym for my Tuesday leg routine, and while doing squats, I came up funny and felt a sharp pain in my lower back which led to back spasms.  I knew it right when it happened and said to myself, “OH FUDGE” (or words to that effect) and over the last two days, I’ve been in a pretty good amount of pain and can’t hardly stand, much less run.

But we’re not throwing in the towel yet my friends.  I’ve been rehabbing it, and with great advice from my cousin Roland (a physical therapist and marathoner) and Alex Hamlow (my favorite ultramarathoner), I’ve iced, heated, massaged, stretched and rested my way back to about 60% mobility, so I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll be at about 80% come Sunday, so I can complete the challenge that my teammates and I set out to accomplish over half a year ago.

Stay tuned for next month’s update to see if I complete my 26.2 mile journey on Sunday and until then, if you’d like to make a donation to the Challenged Athletes Foundation and support me in my upcoming quest for the Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge in October, you can click on the green ribbon to the right or check out my fundraising page at:

http://mdcalumni2010.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=342248&supId=258041656

Take care everyone and keep on riding!

-BB